Vava'u to Ha'apai

Hi everyone,

We had a good overnight 75nm sail S from Lisa's Beach, Vava'u to Pangai, Ha'apai.  We departed at 1600 and arrived at 0800.  Wind was ESE, not the E promised, so it became a very close reach.  We arced W to get into deeper water and hopefully clear of the whales.

Sun set departing Vava'u

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival Track

Graphs

It was fun sailing through the S islands of the Vava'u group in the late afternoon.  There are extensive reefs around some of the islands, and isolated reefs to avoid too.  As we cleared the islands we heard whale song through the hull.  Who knows how far off they were but we tapped on the hull every few minutes to give them a hint we were there!

We sailed under trisail-sized main and triple-furled yankee.  This kept our speed reasonable so we'd arrive after dawn.  Even so, we passed the N tip of the Ha'apai group in darkness.  We used the radar to confirm our position.  Once into the island group we continued on to anchor off the main town of Pangai.  We'll do our domestic clear-in there on Monday.

Sunrise approaching Ha'apai

Pangai from the anchorage

Sunday Brunch!

There are nine of us anchored off Pangai, lined up N-S along the bay.  We're expecting rainy weather over the next few days.  We hope to fill our water tanks after a week in Lisa's Beach.  The Vava'u town water is very hard so rain water will be a big improvement.

Trust all's well where you are.

Vava'u

Hi everyone,

We spent a month in the Vava'u island group.  We alternated between moorings at Neiafu the main town and anchorages around the group.  We visited Pt Maurelle, Tapana Island and Lisa's Beach anchorages.  Lisa's was our favourite.

More than a dozen sailors in Zen Again's cockpit

Neiafu is a nice town.  Lots of small supermarkets, most of which sell the same items.  One really nice cafe in the middle of town with great coffee and food.  They also sell T-shirts, including custom-printed shirts.  Our favourite water-side cafes were Mangos and Kraken.  Both have dinghy docks.   Mangos makes town water available to cruisers.

Zen Again from Mangos in Neiafu

Great beer

We had two OCC & other get-togethers at Mangos, including Wandelaar and Walkabout the boats we sailed with from Nuiatoputapu.  The Maka beer is excellent, more IPA than lager.  Kraken runs a quiz night on Fridays and we won at our second attempt!

Socialising at Mangos

Kraken Bar

We had a set of T-shirts, long sleeve tees, polo shirts and bags made at Coffee & Tees.  They did a great job.  The do proper Aussie flat whites and their food is excellent.

Nicki models one of our new boat shirts

Our first foray out into the island group took us to Pt Maurelle.  It's a bit of a skating ring of an anchorage with thin sand over rock and quite a few bombies.  But the water was beautifully clear.  We started our big NZ hull clean here.  The NZ authorities are very strict on biosecurity so we are gradually working on thoroughly cleaning the hull including recesses and niches.

Clear 12m-deep water in Pt Maurelle

Our next anchorage was Tapana Island.  Our friends on sv Apres Ski were here and invited us over for a very nice dinner.  Everyone seems to have tuna in their freezers - caught en-route to Tonga.  Here we first encountered huge 'bait balls' of tiny fish hiding under the boat.  Hull cleaning continued.

Fish 'bait balls' at Tayana Island

Our third anchorage was Lisa's Beach.  More socialising here, including an OCC dinghy raft-up which became a 'how many people can we fit in the cockpit adventure.  Pretty cool picture (at top).  Attendees included Apres Ski, Nimue and Shimshal.  More hull cleaning.

Twilight at Lisa's Beach

After a week at anchor, and with water, bread and fresh supplies running low, we returned to in Neiafu.  The moorings were very busy but we managed to arrange a 'swap back' with the Aussie boat which had taken our mooring when we left.

Heading back to Neiafu

More socialising at Mangos

Several OCC and EBBYC boats we knew arrived during this week at Neiafu including Thestral, Moody Rudie, Island Kea and Deriska.  The sv Eyras were there too, who we last saw in Santa Marta, Colombia.  It was good to catch up with everyone.  With full water tanks etc we then headed back to Lisa's beach.  Hull cleaning continued.

"Metzi" evening sun-shade rigged

Starting another hull-cleaning session

The hull cleaning wasn't without incident.  I cut three fingers on a barnacle and Nic was stung by a jellyfish.  I also badly cut my foot while aboard.  So the cleaning alternated between us.

Bird feeding frenzy

Fish feeding frenzy

We hitchhiked with the Thestrals and Walkabouts from Lisa's Beach to Neiafu to do our domestic 'clear out'.  This is necessary when moving between Tongan island groups.  Unlike most international clearance locations in Tonga the boat doesn't need to go to the customs dock.  We rode in and back on the tray-back of a truck.  The owner Noah put chairs aboard for the ride back which was very nice of him.

Hitching a ride into Neiafu to clear-out with sv Threstrals

We had a great time in Vava'u.  Very relaxing, a very nice town and wonderful anchorages.

Trust all's well where you are!

Niuatoputapu to Vava'u Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is a summary of our 175nm passage between Tongan islands Niuatoputapu and Vava'u.  We sailed in close company with Netherlands OCC SVs Walkabout and Wandelaar.  It was a great passage save only for the wind direction and current pushing us all W.  This and a fading breeze led to our all motoring in to the lee of Vava'u and we then hove-to for the night.

Zen Again in Neiafu

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 175 nm

        • Logged Distance = 190 nm

        • GPS Distance = 206 nm

        • Duration = 2 days 2 hours

        • Average speed = 3.8 kt (including while hove-to)

        • Minimum boat speed = 0.5 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 6 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 3 kt

        • Average wind speed = 10 knots

        • Maximum wind speed = 18 with gusts to 24

        • Apparent wind angle range = 40 to 100

        • Seas 1-2m

        • Swell 1-2m

        • Clear with 1/8 cloud mostly except overcast when rain squalls around

        • 1/2 waxing moon

    • Engine

        • Total = 10 hours

        • Driving = 10 hours

        • Charging = 0 hours

    • Failures

        • None

    • Stars

        • The boat - as always

It was fun to sail with two other boats of similar speeds and in wind varying from 5 to 20 knots.  Wandelaar is a Bronsveen Colin Archer ketch.  Walkabout is an Ovni 345.  After 30 hours sailing we were still close to each other.

Departing together (with Amel 50 Traveller IV ahead)

Wandelaar, Zen Again & Walkabout (L-R) 30 hours later

Winds started E 8G12 under an almost clear blue sky.  With hindsight we should have held higher but instead rhumb-lined S.  Overnight a band of cloud moved over bringing a few showers and 18G24 wind which veered SSE.  This put us hard on the wind.  And a 0.5-1.0 knot current was also pushing us W.

The next day the wind gradually decreased and backed, but only to the SE.  We passed close to Fonualei Island with all three yachts in line abreast.  As the wind continued to die and the sea state improved we resorted to the engine to take us E towards Vava'u.  When in the lee of the island that evening we hove-to for the night.  The half moon set spectacularly and the star-scape which followed was awesome.

In the Niuatoputapu passage

Full Sail

Passing Fonualei Island

At 0700 the engine went back on and we motored to Neiafu, the main town on Vava'u.  Many of our OCC &/or EBBYC friends are here.  We picked up a mooring close to Mango's restaurant.

Dawn twilight with Vava'u in silhouette

Approaching Vava'u

On a mooring off Mango's dinghy dock

View of Neiafu anchorage

Trust all's well where you are!